Worst Year Ever...Magnum Barrel Life?

[fishngamereaper]

I see myself as a serious gun nut. I know how many rounds generally it takes to wear out a rifle barrel and the symptons that arise.  My question for you more serious gun nuts, how long does the integrity of a rifle barrel last soley in conjuction with age.

The rifles barrels I have shot out in the past have been round count based and never age based. Well now Im faced with the dilema that my old hunting buddy is worn out. My go to rifle since I was 13 is a Ruger M77 7mag. It was used when my dad gave it to me and I have had it for over 25years. On average it may get 10-20 rounds a year through it. Last year I had no problems with it(one shot kills on deer and elk). This year it shot great right out of the safe. Well, so far this year I have missed two blackies, and its killing me. Having never missed an animal needless to say I have been beating myself up. Took the old girl to the range and she is all over the place. One or two rounds are in but the majority are thrown, like 8-10" in every direction. Ive cleaned the barrel several times and get one or two rounds in but then it starts dancing again.

Im going to throw another scope on it to check but the Nikon on it now is only 3 years old and has never been bounced or dropped. Im afraid that the 30 year old steel may have seen better days. Any opinions on barrel steel wearing because of age?

Oh and I mainly shot Accubonds, but Ive tried Federal and Remmington during this process and no change.

[Huntbear]

Check your stock... is it wood?  Did it dry out and crack?  has it been bedded real well?  How about screws? Loose?

Check your crown.  Is it rough?  got a tiny burr?  use a Q tip to check it.

[NW-GSP]

with a rifle with history like that I would put a new barrel on it and hunti with it for another 25 years

[FC]

A thousand years wouldn't change the way it shot so long as there was no rust and the stock fit well and was in good condition. 

Check the stock and use some good copper solvent/fouling remover on the barrel.

[Fl0und3rz]

At the risk of insulting your intelligece or experience, I would check scope condition and mounts and stock to action fit and fastening, before I suspected the barrel based merely on age. Next, I would suspect ammo consistency. Then there should be some measurement you can make to see if the barrel is truly finished.

Just saw you varied ammo, so that should rule that out.

[runningboard]

agree with huntbear, check stock bedding action screws etc & clean that bore really well before writing off the barrel

[fishngamereaper]

The scope is the last thing to check. Everything else has been checked and double checked. Its never been an MOA rifle, but its a magnum so I wouldnt expect it to be. It has a wood stock but its still solid. Because of my job Iam lucky enough to have alot of range time with scoped rifles including certifications for repairing Remmington, Winchester and HK weapons. The main thing Im not familiar with is longevity of the actual gun metal with age. Seems to me anything metal eventaully will wear out over time, regardless of use. So any wise old gunsmiths that want to add there       Thanks for the input so far.

[Fl0und3rz]

Be sure to let us know what you actually find out. It's an interesting question.

[Huntbear]

I am still thinking the crown has a burr in it.. or it is fouled really badly, with copper...  not sure what you use for cleaning, but get something stronger (more toxic so to speak)  A barrel does not go away that fast.  You would notice it getting worse over time...

[dewandgin]

I am still thinking the crown has a burr in it.. or it is fouled really badly, with copper...  not sure what you use for cleaning, but get something stronger (more toxic so to speak)  A barrel does not go away that fast.  You would notice it getting worse over time...

 

Have a M77 270 that was gave to me 34 yrs ago and it has at least 50 + rounds a year through it and it shots great still. One year it had in excess of 500 rounds through it. Lived in WYO and used it for coyotes and prairie dog and jack rabbits

[Three_Oh_Eight]

Gun metal shouldn't "go bad" within your lifetime unless you let it corrode.  There are still 1903 Springfields and 1898 Mausers shooting just fine to this day and they will probably last a long time. 

As far as throat erosion with a magnum, unless you're heating it up real hot and continuing to shoot it in a session, I don't think you'll see an appreciable loss of accuracy until you have at least 1500 rounds through it.  You might see throat erosion at as few as 200 rounds, but the barrel will still be plenty serviceable.  That is, unless you're shooting some of the uber-overbore stuff like the 257 Weatherby or the 22 Eargensplittenloudenboomer.

I'd be checking bedding of the action, barrel contact, crown, scope and scope rings.  You may play with a shim under the barrel up by the fore-end to see if some upward pressure on the barrel might help.  Check the crown for burrs.  A re-crown is usually pretty simple.  If you have another scope that you really trust, swap out and use the proven scope.  Scopes have more demons in them than just about anything in my experience.

[Three_Oh_Eight]

Oh yeah, clean it down to bare metal.  Get rid of ALL the copper fouling.  This will be tedious and it may require a bit of fouling afterward before it will shoot well.  But it never hurts to get it clean.

[6x6in6]

I have the exact same rifle and bought it new 30 years ago.  It probably has in the neighborhood of 700 rounds down the pipe, so a similar round count as you.  99.9% of the lead has been Partitions.
No issues with mine at all, ever.
I would agree with Huntbear and look for a possible bedding issue or copper fouling. 

[lokidog]

I had a semi-auto .308 that shot well, and then it didn't.  Turned out to be a loose crosshair or something goofy in the scope.  First couple of shots would be close and then just all over, but mostly in an upward string.

[Jim the Plumber]

Barrel metal doesn't fatigue for no apparent reason.
 Have a competent gunsmith look over the rifle/ scope.